Wednesday, 27 July 2016

There has
been no mention of George Osborne’s much trumpted 'Northern Powerhouse’ which
appears to be sinking as fast his career. Not a muffle from Maggie May. Rumour
has it our new prime Minster has hinted the
Government's obsession with Manchester will come to an end. Good. Lancashire has
received now’t from the divvy up devolution. Short changed in
Osborne’s dogs breakfast of localism. Some cities. Not all cities.
Some cities more than other cities. Some cities faster than
others. Definitely not shire counties unless, maybe .. no maybe
not. Chaotic.

It was a slogan too. A political slogan to mug voters into
believing Mr Osborne cared. To neutralise a reality. The south gets all
the money. £billions on HS1 (channel tunnel), £billions on Thameslink,
£billions on Crossrail, £billions on Westminster Tube Station and Kings Cross.
Hyndburn and Burnley got £7million to improve our comparatively slow rail
link to Manchester with hand me down rolling stock. There never was a northern
plan.

It looks like Osborne’s ‘Northern Powerhouse’ needs a headstone.
Theresa May has said she wants a country "needed a plan to help not one
or even two of our great regional cities but every single one of them.” Great. I
get the message. Manchester. You’re on notice. New sheriff in town. Now the
detail. Stop. Reality check. We’ll get now’t, again. Flashing warning
sign. Tory rebadging and repackaging exercise in process.

The reality is this. If Mrs May wants an economic powerhouse
everywhere for everyone she has to work out how the left behind shire towns are
part that wider economic powerhouse.

So let’s end city specific plans. City selfish mentality which
has resulted in every city having an airport at the bottom its garden yet
poor train regional services across with regional trains that aren’t connected
to airports or ports easily and we have roads that go nowhere (M65) and roads
that should go somewhere but not in a straight line or with nowhere near
enough capacity. East –West road links are appalling. You can get to Norway
faster than you can get to Newcastle

So it’s about time the shires sat in the big chair. It is
also time we had regional pow-wow rather than little town hall chiefs from
Leeds and Manchester whose only interest is to ensure their own flower bed is
watered. Its time for a northern assembly that punches above its weight for the
benefit of all.

I am writing for two reasons. Firstly, to congratulate you on your appointment as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. It is a brief of huge importance and I hope that you will be able to make a better job of it than the previous Culture Secretary. Secondly, to encourage you to resist effecting one of the most worrying ambitions of your predecessor: the privatisation of Channel 4 (C4).

The Labour Party

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